Alexa Grasso isn’t taking part in round along with her combat picks.
This week on The Final Fighter 32, the UFC flyweight champion evens the rating at 1-1 in her teaching matchup with rival Valentina Shevchenko, and does so handily. Along with her first combat number of the season, Grasso sends out her high middleweight choose Robert Valentin (10-3) to face Shevchenko’s final choose Giannis Bachar (9-2), and the result’s as anticipated.
Valentin, who has beforehand educated with Shevchenko at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand, wants lower than 30 seconds to attach with a counter elbow to Bachar’s head that causes the Greek fighter to crumble to the canvas. A couple of follow-up strikes comply with, however the combat is basically over as quickly as Valentin’s elbow connects.
With the win, the 28-year-old Valentin turns into the primary middleweight semifinalist of the season.
Episode 2 really begins with a bit drama because the initially scheduled middleweight matchup between Group Grasso’s Omran Chaaban and Group Shevchenko’s Shamidkhan Magomedov must be postponed attributable to Chaaban having an infectious chilly sore.
Although Shevchenko misplaced, her group continues to reward her for her limitless work ethic and for pushing them in coaching, which they examine to being in “boot camp.” Bachar jokes that the group ought to go to UFC CEO Dana White to protest Shevchenko’s intense coaching classes.
Subsequent week, featherweights are again in motion as Group Grasso’s No. 2 choose Kaan Olfi fights Group Shevchenko’s No. 3 choose Nathan Fletcher.
The Final Fighter 32 airs dwell each Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Following the season finale, Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko are anticipated to face off in a flyweight championship trilogy bout at a date nonetheless to be decided.
The finalists of the TUF 32 middleweight and featherweight tournaments may also compete for a six-figure UFC contract on the present’s dwell finale. A date for that occasion can also be but to be introduced.
Listed below are the TUF 32 rosters divided by group:
Group Grasso
Featherweights
Guillermo Torres (Mexico) (7-1)
Kaan Ofli (Australia) (10-2-1)
Bekhzod Usmonov (Tajikistan) (11-4)
Mairon Santos (Brazil) (13-1)
Middleweights
Robert Valentin (Switzerland) (10-3)
Paddy McCorry (Eire) (4-1)
Omran Chaaban (Finland) (6-1)
Tom Theocharis (Canada) (9-5)
Group Shevchenko
Featherweights
Roedie Roets (South Africa) (7-1)
Zygimantas Ramaska (Lithuania) (9-2)
Nathan Fletcher (England) (8-1)
Edwin Cooper Jr. (USA) (6-1)
Middleweights
Shamidkhan Magomedov (Russia) (7-1)
Mark Hulme (South Africa) (12-3)
Ryan Loder (USA) (6-1)
Giannis Bachar (Greece) (9-2)
Listed below are the quarterfinal outcomes to date:
Roedie Roets def. Guillermo Torres by way of determination
Robert Valentin def. Giannis Bachar by way of KO (strikes) (R1)
Advancing to semifinals: Roets, Valentin
Eradicated: Torres, Bachar
